Tubular fabric spreading and rolling machine



Feb. 5, 1963 E. s. BEARD TUBULAR FABRIC SPREADING AND ROLLING MACHINE Z-Shets-Sheet 1 m m B Cw r 0 w E Filed July 9, 1958 Feb. 5, 1963 E. s. BEARD 3,076,249

TUBULAR FABRIC SPREADING AND ROLLING MACHINE Filed July 9, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R E 0* I Ft- \N i a ,3 k i Q) "Q 5 1 I Q I s 3- 1 g g Q: Q J0 a Q P l I g i g g 0 d v m '0 a h R 3 m Edward S- Beard INVENTOR.

1 BY .wywayfi aa United States Patent 3,076,249 TUBULAR FABRIC SPREADING AND ROLLING MACHINE Edward S.,Beard, P.0. Box 22, Spring City, Pa. Filed July 9, 1958, Ser. No. 147,505 5 Claims. (Cl. 26-55) The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in a machine which is expressly designed and adapted for effectually spreading, flattening and feeding or propelling tubular knitted fabric in a practical and reliable manner and to thus expedite weighting, sizing and all required handling steps incident and complemental thereto. The reader, if conversant with the state of the art to which the invention relates, will promptly recognize the fact that machines for feeding and propelling tubular fabric and subjecting the. fabric to the width governing action of an insertable and removable mechanical spreader of one type or another, are not new. As a matter of fact, many and varied styles and types of machines have been evolved and produced with a view toward complying with the manufacturing requirements and economies of manufacturers and the time-consuming and factors of expense which have to be borne by owners and operators. Notwithstanding the energetic elforts of inventors and others engaged in this line of endeavor and despite my own efforts, I am constantly attempting to solve the problem 'of more efiicient and better control of tubular fabric with the idea in mind of guarding against slippage and avoiding sharp and sudden creasings of the fabric which, obviously, tends to over-stretch it, and to otherwise Work out ways and means to overcome ineffectual and poor handling steps and difliculties. Guiding and feeding of tubular fabric with most prior art constructions are such as to permit the center portions of the flattened tube or fabric to be drawn ahead at a faster rate while friction along the margins or folds of the tube retards these marginal portions to continue to require the use of special corrective adjustment devices and properly guide and reduce drag before the fabric reaches the feeding or propelling rollers.

Most of the objectives which I have had in mind from time to time were especially well met, it is believed, by a properly constructed spreader inserted and operating between upper and lower power driven rollers in a machine, quite similar to the instant machine, disclosed and claimed in my prior Patent 2,812,568 of November .12, 1957. Referring to the stated patent it will be seen that it is characterized, briefly summarized, by a suit able frame structure having uprights paired and operably supporting a first horizontally disposed or lower roller functioning to 'exteriorly contact and frictionally drive the bottom span or portion of the fabric tube. Above the lower roller and also horizontally disposed is a second or upper roller. This is positioned in spaced parallelism directly above the first roller and it too exteriorly contacts and frictionally propels or drives the top span or portion of the fabric tube. These two rollers are .of a length greater, of course, than the width of the fabric tube and means is provided for simultaneously delivering power to and driving the two rollers so that the fabric tube is propelled evenly between their adjacent cooperating surfaces and at a desired speed of movement. A spreader device is removably sandwiched between the adjacent friction feeding surfaces of the upper and lower rollers. The upper roller is journalled in bearings which are spring biased to normally bring the rollers into operating relationship. Mechanical means, which is foot-controlled, and additional hand levers are provided at each end of the upper or second roller and these are disposed at the disposal of the operator of the machine so that it becomes possible to lift either end of the upper roller or to lift the entire roller momentarily to permit uniform movement of the fabric tube and obviate the likelihood that uneven feeding of the fabric might result.

With further reference to the stated patent it will be observed that the insertable and removable spreader is described as having spaced adapters which adapters are mounted between the upper and lower rollers. The spreader has a U-shaped bow or piloting rod of U-shaped form carried by the forward. ends of the adapters. Suitable -g-uide fingers are arranged. at the rear end' of the adapters. Each adapter has a pair of inner and outer guide members or heads especially designed over which the stretched and enveloping fabric tube is fed and moved. In addition idling rollers, are carried by the heads or members of the adapters and they are arranged in pairs and properly related to. the upper. and lower rollers to contact interior portions of the. fabric tube and are disposed in ahorizontal plane. Then, too, there is a mechanically driven fabric. contactinghhorizont'ally disposed rotatably mounted disk, that is, for each adapter. Each disk is disposed for rotation exte'riorly of the adjacent outer member or head of its particular adapter and, having its peripheral portion in feeding, contact with the fabric tube whereby the suitably powered upperand lower rollers, the pairs of idling rollers on the spreader head or adapters and the outside disks collectively guide and feed the fabric tube with requisite constancy and uniformity with the idea of minimizing drag and consequent uneveness yet insuring reliable and effective movement of the tubular fabric over the spreader parts and between the upper and lower driven rollers.

Inasmuch as the inst-ant invention is a direct improvement on the patent it is to be further mentioned that the aforementioned disks have their peripheral portions'located at the approximate median or central portion of the adapters. It has been found that it is more practical and eifective to shift the position of these disks. Therefore, it is one object in the instant invention to locate or position the driven drag resisting disks not in line with the aforementioned rollers but between the forward ends of the adaptersi heads and the two idling rollers constituting a forward pair of idling rollers.

In carrying out the principles of the present improvements it has also been found desirable to utilize a more positive drive for the drag resisting disks. To this end and in the instant arrangement the disks are here positively driven instead of taking motion from the lower feed roller as in my above identified patented construction.

The present invention also utilizes hollow outer heads in the respective adapters. Each head has a slot or opening in the forward half portion thereof to allow a limited segmental or sector portion of a secondary or auxiliary disk to be mounted on the head and with the peripheral portion only projecting through the opening so that there are now two coplanar disks utilized, one on the outside and one on the inside with the peripheral portions of the disks mating and moving the coacting portion of the tubular fabric therebetween for satisfactorily guiding and reducing to a minimum drag and displacement of the tubular fabric before it reaches the forward and the rearward pairs of idlingrollers on the spreader and upper and lower driven rollers on the frame of the machine.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout theviews:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing fragmentarily the frame structure of the machine and illustrating the salient components of the improvements, for example the dualhead adapters and the improved main and auxiliary dragresisting disks.

FIG. 2 is a section taken on the plane of the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 3 is an exaggerated section taken on the plane of the vertical line 3-3 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the adapters at one end of the insertable and removable spreader.

FIG. 5 is a section on the plane of the line 55 of FIG. 4.

By way of introduction to the description of the details it is to be pointed out again that since the subject matter of the instant application has to do with from the lower driven roller as is in my Patent 2,812,- 568, the power is delivered by way of the shaft 26 through the bevel gears contained in an adjustable gear box or housing supporting the disk 36 and thus obtaining a more satisfactory and direct drive for said disks 36.

Taking up now the insertable and removable spreader it will be observed that generally speaking it is characterized by a pair of dual-type adapters 50 which serve to support and properly locate the U-shaped bow or piloting frame 52 as seen in FIG. 1. This end of the spreader is to be referred to as the forward end and on the rearward end the usuai attachable and detachable V-shaped guide fingers 54 are provided to have their finger portions or refinements and improvements related to somewhat corresponding and similarly constructed parts in my previous Patent |2,8=12,968, it has been thought unnecessary to dwell upon the old or previously disclosed part. That is to say, I have attempted here to focus attention on the improvements themselves and to deemphasize parts seen in the previous patent hoping that in so doing the connection between the two subjects-matter will thus be clarified and understood. To this end and with reference for example to FIG. 2 one of the components of the frame or frame structure is denoted by the numeral 8. There are two of these and they are spaced apart in parallelism as seen in top plan in FIG. 1. The several rollers 10, 11, 12 and 13 seen at the left and associated with the uprights 14 are for spooling and storing the tubular fabric 16 as shown at 18. These are not of importance in the invention. The aforementioned upper driven roller 20 is suitably supported between uprights 22 and the lower rubber covered driven or powered roller 24 is suitably supported in the uprights beneath the roller 20. It is between the surfaces of these rollers that the insertable and removable spreader is interposed or sandwiched and held in place. Before taking up the construction of the spreader it is deemed systematic to continue with a discussion of the machine somewhat apart from the spreader and to this end reference may be made to FIG. 1 wherein it will be seen that motion or power is derived from the shaft A driving the pulley and the companion pulley C to operate the endless belt D to turn the shaft E and to thus operate the intermeshing gears F and G to impart motion to the rollers 20 and 24. Obviously, I am not especially concerned here with the way in which the motion is transmitted and reference for greater details on this can be made to the aforementioned patent. However, it may be said that the power take-off gear G operates an added motion transmitting shaft 26 which as seen in FIG. 3 transfers motion to a first bevel gear 28 in a gear box or housing 30 and meshing with a second bevel gear 32 operating a vertical or perpendicular shaft 34 which in turn operates the horizontally disposed exterior tubular fabric guiding and anti-drag disk 36. This is an improved mode of operating a disk as compared to the correspondingly functioning disk in my previous patent. With reference to FIG. 2 a horizontal support or tube 38 is provided with a suitable bracket 40 adjustably connected as at 42 to any means of support for the power take-off and motion transmitting shaft 26. The horizontal feed screw 44 is suitably supported and is not new and is provided at one end as seen in FIG. 2 with an adjusting hand wheel 46. The gear boxes 30 are provided with appropriate bracket connection at 48 with the feed screw making it possible to shift the anti-drag and guiding disk 36 at the right and left in FIG. 3 toward and from each other depending on the size of the spreader which is to be brought into use. Thus instead of taking the power limbs 56 and 58 detachably connected to the inner and outer heads 60 and 62 of the respective adapters. Since each adapter is the same in construction reference is had to FIG. 4 wherein it will be observed that the inner head 60 is a vertical plate while the outer head is of hollow shell-like form and is in spaced parallelism and is provided with connecting studs 64 (FIG. 5) which serve as spacers between the two heads and which have sockets at 66 to accommodate the shank 68 of the assembling and retaining fastener or bolt 70. The forward end portions 72 and 74 of the respective heads are generally V-shaped in form and likewise the rearward end portions 76 and '73 are V-shaped. The reduced neck portions 80 join the forward and rearward portions and provide recesses to accommodate the coacting portions of the aforementioned upper and lower rollers. The numeral 84 designates the forward pair of idling rollers between the two heads made of a lower idling roller 86 and an upper one 88 directly above it. The idling rollers 90 and 92 in the pair of idling rollers 94 constituting the rear idlers are spaced from the rollers 86 and 88 and the intervening space lines up with the recesses 82. These respective pairs of rollers 86, 88, 90 and 92 are forwardly and rearwardly of the elongated power driven rollers designated as the upper and lower rollers 20 and 24 (FIG. 2).

As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 the forward half portion of the outer head 62 is provided with a slot 96 to expose the segmental portion 98 of a horizontal idling roller 100 (FIG. 3) which is mounted for rotation on a perpendicular spindle or shaft 102. As brought out in FIG. 3 this disk 100 is auxiliary or complemental to the exterior disk 36. Thus in this construction the idling rollers 86, 88, 90 and 92 are on the interior of the tubular fabric and so are the auxiliary idling horizontal disks 100. On the other hand, the aforementioned positively driven exterior disks 36 are on the outside and located between the forward end and center of the respective adapters where they perform their guiding and anti-drag function in an extremely efficient manner.

The respective adapters are provided as seen in FIG. 3 with aligned socket members 104 each having a bayonet slot 106 and selectively usable side keeper notches 108 which slots and notches serve to accommodate the lateral detent pins or keepers 110 and 112 at the ends of a conneoting rod 114 which fits into the socket members. This provides a satisfactory connection of adjustment between the adapters which in turn support not only their complemental rollers and disks but the U-shaped spreader 52 and the trailing fingers 54.

In operation it will be understood that the fabric is operated in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular and passes in a direction from right to left first over the U-shaped spreader bow 52 and then over the heads of the adapters and then over the fingers 54 where it is rolled up in the manner shown at the left in FIG. 2. In other words this operation is similar to that in most machines in this category and especially in my previously mentioned Patent 2,812,568. It is to be emphasized however that the disks 1% on the inside of the fabric with their peripheral portions cooperating with the adjacent peripheral portions of the exterior positively driven disks 96 is the outstanding improvement which acts on the marginal or side portions of the tubular fabric to more effectually achieve the end result desired.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A machine for feeding, spreading and flattening tubular knitted fabric in a manner to systematically expedite carrying out necessary weighting, sizing and other handling steps comprising; in combination a frame structure, a horizontally elongated and disposed lower fabric contacting and friction feeding roller mounted for driven rotation on said frame structure, a companion correspondingly constructed upper roller mounted for driven rotation above and parallel to the lower roller and adapted to friction feed the upper portion of the fabric, a fabric spreader having specially designed and shaped adapters the median portions of which are removably sandwiched for operation between adjacent segmental surface portions of said upper and lower rollers, each adapter having spaced parallel rigidly connected inner and outer elongated heads with end portions extending and projecting forwardly and rearwardly beyond the surfaces of the upper and lower rollers, spaced forward and rearward spaced pairs of short horizontal upper and lower rollers mounted for idling between their respective heads, said idling rollers and heads being enclosed by the tubular fabric and acting to evenly guide and move the tube of fabric from the interior of the tube, the forward pair of idling rollers being situated forwardly of the upper and lower power driven rollers and the rear pair rearwardly thereof so that cooperating segmental surface portions of the power driven rollers cooperate with the intended fabric propelling surfaces of the idling rollers exteriorly of the fabric during such time as the fabric is seated and nested in the spaces which exist between the upper and lower idling rollers of the forward and rearward pairsof idling rollers, and fabric contacting disks mounted for positively driven operation on supporting and driving means therefor, said supporting end driving means'being carried by said frame, one disk for the outer head of each adapter, each disk being positioned so that the adjacent lengthwise folded or creased portion of the fabric tube travels between the guiding and drag-resisting periphery of the disk and opposed surface of the outer head, and said disk turning in a horizontal plane on a vertical axis and the axis of rotation and complete disk being confined to a position between the forward ends of the heads and said forward pair of idling rollers whereby it functions and acts on and guides the portions of the fabric contacted thereby before the corresponding portions of the fabric reach the idling rollers and driven upper and lower rollere.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, and wherein the inner heads of the respective adapters have axially alined socket members fixed thereto, said socket members having lengthwise bayonet slots and lateral selectively usable keeper notches, and a connecting, adjusting and retaining rod having end portions telescoping into the respective socket members, said rod provided at its end portions with radial keeper pins cooperating with their respective slots and notches.

3. The structure defined in claim 1, and wherein each outer head of each adapter is provided with a freely rotatable disk disposed in a horizontal plane and turning free on a vertical axle said disk being complemental to the adjacent driven first named disk and a segmental peripheral portion thereof being exposed through an opening provided therefor in the vertical marginal side of said outer head, whereby its peripheral portion is alined and cooperates with an adjacent peripheral portion of the companion driven disk.

4. For use in conjunction with a pair of upper and lower driven tubular fabric propelling rollers and adapted to be interposed and sandwiched between said rollers when in use, a readily insentable and removable spreader comprising a pair of duplicate opposed coplanar adapters, means adjustably and separably connecting said adapters to each other, each adapter comprising spaced parallel inner and outer heads rigidly but separably joined to gcther, said heads having V-shaped forward and rearward portions, a first pair of upper and lower idling rollers mounted for free rotation between the forward end portions of said heads, a second pair of upper and lower idling rollers mounted for free rotation between the rear end portions of the respective heads, said pairs of rollers being spaced on opposite sides of the central or median portions of the respective heads, a fiorward portion of the outer head being provided with a slot, at horizontally disposed disk having a segmental portion protruding and operable through said slot, and a perpendicular shaft supporting said disk for free rotation.

5. The structure defined in claim 4 and wherein each of the inner heads [are provided with axially aligned socket members, each socket member having a bayonet slot and a plurality of lateral keeper notches registering with said slot, :and a connecting rod for the socket members having its end portions fitted removably and telescopically into their respective socket members, and end portions of said head being provided with laterally projecting keeper pins and said keeper pins being rem-ovably and selectively engageable with their respective bayonet slots and keeper notches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 593,729 Skinner Nov. 16, 1897 2,130,118 Cohn Sept. 13, 1938 2,812,568 Beard Nov. 12, 1957 

1. A MACHINE FOR FEEDING, SPREADING AND FLATTENING TUBULAR KNITTED FABRIC IN A MANNER TO SYSTEMATICALLY EXPEDITE CARRYING OUT NECESSARY WEIGHTING, SIZING AND OTHER HANDLING STEPS COMPRISING; IN COMBINATION A FRAME STRUCTURE, A HORIZONTALLY ELONGATED AND DISPOSED LOWER FABRIC CONTACTING AND FRICTION FEEDING ROLLER MOUNTED FOR DRIVEN ROTATION ON SAID FRAME STRUCTURE, A COMPANION CORRESPONDINGLY CONSTRUCTED UPPER ROLLER MOUNTED FOR DRIVEN ROTATION ABOVE AND PARALLEL TO THE LOWER ROLLER AND ADAPTED TO FRICTION FEED THE UPPER PORTION OF THE FABRIC, A FABRIC SPREADER HAVING SPECIALLY DESIGNED AND SHAPED ADAPTERS THE MEDIAN PORTIONS OF WHICH ARE REMOVABLY SANDWICHED FOR OPERATION BETWEEN ADJACENT SEGMENTAL SURFACE PORTIONS OF SAID UPPER AND LOWER ROLLERS, EACH ADAPTER HAVING SPACED PARALLEL RIGIDLY CONNECTED INNER AND OUTER ELONGATED HEADS WITH END PORTIONS EXTENDING AND PROJECTING FORWARDLY AND REARWARDLY BEYOND THE SURFACES OF THE UPPER AND LOWER ROLLERS, SPACED FORWARD AND REARWARD SPACED PAIRS OF SHORT HORIZONTAL UPPER AND LOWER ROLLERS MOUNTED FOR IDLING BETWEEN THEIR RESPECTIVE HEADS, SAID IDLING ROLLERS AND HEADS BEING ENCLOSED BY THE TUBULAR FABRIC AND ACTING TO EVENLY GUIDE AND MOVE THE TUBE OF FABRIC FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE TUBE, THE FORWARD PAIR OF IDLING ROLLERS BEING SITUATED FORWARDLY OF THE UPPER AND LOWER POWER DRIVEN ROLLERS AND THE REAR PAIR REARWARDLY THEREOF SO THAT COOPERATING SEGMENTAL SURFACE PORTIONS OF THE POWER DRIVEN ROLLERS COOPERATE WITH THE INTENDED FABRIC PROPELLING SURFACES OF THE IDLING ROLLERS EXTERIORLY OF THE FABRIC DURING SUCH TIME AS THE FABRIC IS SEATED AND NESTED IN THE SPACES WHICH EXIST BETWEEN THE UPPER AND LOWER IDLING ROLLERS OF THE FORWARD AND REARWARD PAIRS OF IDLING ROLLERS, AND FABRIC CONTACTING DISKS MOUNTED FOR POSITIVELY DRIVEN OPERATION ON SUPPORTING AND DRIVING MEANS THEREFOR, SAID SUPPORTING END DRIVING MEANS BEING CARRIED BY SAID FRAME, ONE DISK FOR THE OUTER HEAD OF EACH ADAPTER, EACH DISK BEING POSITIONED SO THAT THE ADJACENT LENGTHWISE FOLDED OR CREASED PORTION OF THE FABRIC TUBE TRAVELS BETWEEN THE GUIDING AND DRAG-RESISTING PERIPHERY OF THE DISK AND OPPOSED SURFACE OF THE OUTER HEAD, AND SAID DISK TURNING IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE ON A VERTICAL AXIS AND THE AXIS OF ROTATION AND COMPLETE DISK BEING CONFINED TO A POSITION BETWEEN THE FORWARD ENDS OF THE HEADS AND SAID FORWARD PAIR OF IDLING ROLLERS WHEREBY IT FUNCTIONS AND ACTS ON AND GUIDES THE PORTIONS OF THE FABRIC CONTACTED THEREBY BEFORE THE CORRESPONDING PORTIONS OF THE FABRIC REACH THE IDLING ROLLERS AND DRIVEN UPPER AND LOWER ROLLERS. 